Sunday, February 7, 2010

Random Acts of Kindness and a Raw & Spicy Giveaway!

But you’ll have to read my other thoughts before I get to that!!
Muahahhahahahahaaaaaaaa

I have been wanting to do this post FOREVER… Now is the day! Ready to spread the love…?
Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) are an amazing thing.

Not only does it give you the power possibly make someone’s day, but you get to also feel the glow for doing something good for the world.
And one act of kindness can cause a major ripple effect, many people will benefit from you.
Best part –it’s easy!

Imagine you have the power to make a difference today!

Have any of you been on the receiving end of random acts of kindness?
If so, do tell!!

If not, it’s time to begin the ripple effect!! I have a challenge for all of you.

Commit to yourself to do one random act of kindness per day in the upcoming week – And then come back and tell me about it (one entry into the draw for every story)

Here are a few ideas! (easy and cheap) there are SO MANY MORE – if you need more inspiration “google it!”

Pay for the person’s coffee behind you in the line up, if they have more than a coffee, oh well… how awesome would it be if someone paid for your breakfast?

Open the door for a mom, a grandpa or anyone. Smile and say “have a nice day”

Tape a quarter to a pay phone with a note welcoming someone who needs it to use it.

Drop off flowers (randomly) at a friend’s place – even better drop by the thrift store to pick up some pretty little vases and then buy a bunch of flowers, this will cost much less than buying a bunch from the florist.

Shovel someone's drive way (this happened to us this winter – it was awesome!)

Clean up litter along the road – makes for a nicer cleaner walk for someone else.

Apologize to someone, if you treated them unfairly. Quick story for you. I was grumpy, I snapped at someone at the grocery store. I felt bad, went and apologized to her. It ended in a hug! Hugs ROCK!

Send a letter (not an email) to someone who has made a difference in you life (ok ok, you can send an email too)

Read to a child – EASY- kids get so lost in the shuffle sometimes. I love to read to my friends kids when I visit, or to the little kids that I work with sometimes!

A friend of mine just commented on her Facebook page that someone paid for her coffee in the drive thru line and she LOVED it! It's amazing how a simple gesture like that can just make your day. I try to sincerely compliment people every chance I get. I know how just hearing something like "I love your skirt!" or "You're hair looks gorgeous!" can just lift your spirits so I try to do that as much as possible. We just had a talk at my "church" about how love it the #1 commandment and if you have love for God and everyone else, everything will be just fine. How awesome would it be if everyone in the world felt the same?

random act I received...a lady at the groc store realized that skylar was not doing well and meltdown was imminent and she told me to go ahead of her, even though i had a big order. she was patient and just let me go. At the time, it meant alot!

random act that I did...I gave away 80% of my household & personal belongings to others. I would post stuff on Craiglist Free and ask people to come take it. I didnt try to sell it, I just gave it away. Purging my emotional and real life clutter that way :)

I love random acts of kindness...that random smile on the street can sometimes make my day.

So, a few months ago I lost my debit card on the bus (!!!) and panicked when I noticed it was gone. When I got home, I already had a Facebook message in my inbox from the person who found it telling me he had it and would like to return it to me. He happened to go to my school, and we met on campus so he could give it back to me. When I think about that, I still get warm fuzzies.

When I was younger I tore a muscle in my back and leg when I was at a fencing tournament in Ohio and a complete stranger upgraded me and my mom to first class so I could keep my leg straight and propped up!

i've been text messages a girl at my school with autism...this shouldn't be just an act of kindness, but i know it means so much to her, and it makes me feel like i'm making her feel like she belongs :)

One thing I always do, and did yesterday, is when I go to a grocery store or any other store, I always ask the cashier how their day has been. I think it's important for people to remember that they are people too! Ignoring cashiers is terribly rude! Smiling and being polite always makes people feel better and appreciated.

On one of our recent trips to the thrift shop, a sweet lady couldn't find anything she wanted to buy, so she asked if she could buy my kids the toy & book they were carrying around (while waiting for me to finish looking, ha).

I couldn't get over what a nice gesture that was - it didn't cost her much (under $2), but it totally made our day. My kids were amazed that someone we didn't even know was buying them something!!

I'm not very good at remembering all of them, but when someone does something unexpected and kind it totally makes my day. Most recently, I guess, is when my little sister left a piece of chocolate on my pillow. For no reason. She's the best. :D

Thanks for the opportunity! This winter we've had some pretty nasty snowstorms and my neighbor a couple houses down has snow blowed our sidewalk everytime! I'll wake up and it's already done, that makes me so thankful and appreciative!

A random act of kindness I have done was a couple months ago at a gas station. A man who looked as if he was homeless(and I'm guessing he was)was paying and I was in line right behind him. He was buying a couple food items and was short about 70 cents so I gave him a five so he could buy all the items and I told him to keep the change. He thanked me so sincerely and and I mean I probably would have used that money to make a starbucks run later that day so I felt really great afterward!

I love randmon acts of kindness! I don't know if this counts but I was chatting with a lady at the gym and she mentioned that she was having trouble working out because she forgot her book...I went to my locker and found my magizene stash and offered her her pick to keep her going.

On the recipient side: a lady at the gym stopped me the other day and said "watching you motivates me" it was SUCH a great thing for her to do and made my whole day. :)

Jess! What a great idea!! Look at all the posts. My random act of kindness was... AND I did it before your post :)A friend just hurt her back, so I took her an iced cap and a bran muffin from Timmies.. I thought it was a pretty simple but nice way to say get better and Im thinking of you.... turns out no one has EVER done that for her. I was so excited to be the first one. I don't want to be added to the giveaway though, there is a lot I can't have right now. I did a bit of a random act of kindness a few months ago and paid for the person's coffee behind me in the drive thru. I told the above friend about it and she came and cleaned my whole car out! Vaccumed and all :) So fun to share it with you.Hugs!

Today I was waiting in line to apply for a shopper's card at the grocery store, right next to the line to buy lottery tickets. When it was my turn, the cashier called out, "Who's next?" and a woman from the lottery line "cut" in front of me. Instead of saying something, I let her go. When the cashier was finished with her, she motioned for me to come over so she could help me, but I decided to just let another woman go in front of me.

Sorry if that was a bit confusing, but in sum, I let a couple of people go ahead of me in line. :)